1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fractionating and refining device for separating a target component from a solution and collecting it as solid material by a liquid chromatograph in order to use the target component included in the solution as a sample for obtaining data to be stored as a library or as a sample for a detailed analysis in a field such as a pharmaceutical field.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a fractionating and refining device using a liquid chromatograph, there is a device for separating target components (compounds) in a sample solution by the liquid chromatograph, respectively introducing them into separate trap columns to temporarily trap them, and allowing solvents to flow through the respective columns to elute the components trapped in the trap columns to thereby condense and collect the target components (refer to Patent Documents 1 and 2).
Because solutes fractionated by the liquid chromatograph are dissolved in the solution, they are normally powderized over hours by using an evaporator or the like. In a drug discovery step in a pharmaceutical field, drug candidates are separated, refined, and powderized to be used for a metabolism study, a drug production study, a physical property study, and the like which are latter steps.
However, the powderization by the evaporator disadvantageously requires a long time.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2-122260
Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2003-149217